If you are lucky, you will go through a 3-6 week postpartum period with either a baby or a breast pump attached to your newly voluptuous chest at all hours of the day. Breastfeeding is the most natural option when it comes to feeding your new baby, but that doesn’t mean it comes naturally to everyone. There is a huge learning curve here, and what is meant to be a beautiful bond between mother and child can turn into a very frustrating and stressful situation for a mom facing issues with lactation or milk production. We frequently use acupuncture for lactation problems without negative side effects. Choosing a practitioner who is experienced treating women during pregnancy and post-partum is important if you are facing lactation challenges.
How do we use acupuncture for lactation? Disorders in this area fall into two distinct categories: low milk supply or milk not flowing. Mastitis makes up a third category that I will explain later. Low milk supply is a diagnosis of insufficient blood and energy in the mother. Milk not flowing or problems with let-down are diagnosed as stuck energy preventing milk from moving down the ducts and out of the nipple. It is not unusual for a mother to have a combination of deficiency and stagnation at the same time.
1. Low Milk Supply
From a Chinese Medicine perspective we understand that a woman’s blood supply that nourished the placenta converts into breast milk once her baby is born. Energy and proper hormonal regulation are required for this process. A predisposition toward anemia or blood loss during delivery can result in a low supply of the mother’s blood resulting in poor milk supply. Exhaustion due to labor and sleep deprivation can prevent the mother’s body from producing milk because there is not enough energy to generate the milk.
The treatment plan prescribed at our San Francisco acupuncture clinic for low milk supply will include acupuncture, possibly an herbal prescription and nutritional guidance. Nutrition is a crucial component here. Any food that is good for the production of blood in the mother will help with milk supply. This includes organic red meats, fish, eggs, and collagen-rich soups made from ham-hocks or chicken with the skin included in the soup stock. When nursing, it is especially important for a mother to eat organic and free-range meats and poultry if possible. If the mother is vegetarian, a protein-rich diet is important. Milkmakers cookies to support milk supply are a good daily addition to the diet. A TCM practitioner, like those in the MamaLounge Acupuncture clinic in San Francisco, who is experienced treating breastfeeding patients will go over additional nutritional advice extensively with you.
2. Blocked Milk and Mastitis
Stagnation or blockage of energy (chi) in and around the breasts prevents the milk from flowing and impairs let-down. Stagnation can lead to breast fullness, distension, pain, pressure and engorgement. Stagnation is also a cause of mastitis. In TCM the primary cause of this blockage is emotional: feelings of being stressed-out, anger, resentment, frustration and depression. These emotions cause stagnation of the energy of the liver energy channel.
In TCM the liver channel controls the woman’s nipple function and also can facilitate or block the flow of energy and by extension milk in the surrounding energy channels and ducts in the breast. Stagnation causing problems with let-down and milk flow is treated most effectively with acupuncture, massage therapy and by keeping the mother away from any sources of emotional stress.
Mastitis is a combination of stagnation of emotions, stress, blood and milk in combination with infection. Combining Western medicine with TCM to treat mastitis is more effective than Western medicine by itself. Antibiotics prescribed by your physician will clear up the infection, and a combination of acupuncture, massage, herbs and medicinal compresses for the breast can alleviate the blocked chi and blood and milk in the breast, thereby reducing engorgement and inflammation. An immediate and effective compress of raw cabbage leaves can help bring down inflammation quickly. Also thoroughly expressing milk as often as possible either manually, via nursing, or with a pump is very crucial in the successful treatment of mastitis.
If you live in the San Francisco area, and you are looking for more information and lactation support, please give us a call at 415-857-3228. Of course, you can always come see us at our office location below.
Mama Lounge
3580 California St. #205
San Francisco, CA 94118
